There are three men dividing a city shrouded in mist.
The sword is at the forefront, followed by divinity and mystery.
They were three men of different ages, races, and origins, but their destiny was the same.
It led them to the tree floating upside down in the middle of the city.
"We'll be there soon!"
The staff Pedro was holding trembled as they approached the plaza.
The staff of the Heretic Interlocutor, which repels evil beings, had already sensed the beings in the plaza and was expressing a wild rage.
"Then, let's start with the tree... Ugh!"
However, as the group approached the plaza, the sound of singing resonating through the mist became clearer.
"Aaaah..."
The first to collapse was Nibelun.
And next to fall to his knees was Vlad, who had sensitive hearing.
A sinister voice that could not be described in words rang in the ears of the two trembling men.
'What a damned song!'
A sound that shakes the soul.
The voice I heard was clear and caught my attention, but the sorrow and anger contained in the song brought to the surface the debris that had sunk deep within my heart.
"...This won't work!"
Priests follow the same will of God, but walk different paths.
Pedro, the Inquisitor and exorcist, realized he had no way to fight against the song and quickly began to point his staff at the heads of Vlad and Nibelun.
"One strike will suffice."
However, just as he was about to extend the staff, a faint singing came from behind Vlad.
-It's truly beautiful. The rising sun of the morning.
"Hmm?"
The young deacon finally regained his senses and began to sing with all his might.
It was impossible to completely fend off the song, but Jean's singing, which he did his best at, was at least enough to protect the group.
-Blue peaks visible in the distance. The craftsmanship my father created is profound.
A woman's song that was strange but clearly based on a hymn.
Jean interspersed his voice with the rhyme and saved the group from the curse.
"...I should have brought a deacon too."
As Jean's song began, the hands of Vlad and Nibelun, which had been covering their ears, started to fall.
A mind that begins to clear as the emotional residue slowly diminishes.
The one at the forefront was Vlad's sword, but this time the divinity of the young deacon was protecting them.
***
"Keuuuuuuu!"
Even now, false hymns continued to be heard in the ears of the Paladins.
Some Paladins even had their eardrums burst, but the voice actually reached them through the soul, not the ears.
A woman who could not touch the ground smiled as she watched the suffering Paladins.
'I'm completely trapped!'
Hot blood flowed between Gunther's tightly closed lips.
A desperate situation where neither advancing nor retreating was possible.
They had always shown great power when dealing with evil beings, but this time they were completely blocked due to incompatibility.
"...Everyone, listen carefully."
Paladins hid in a thick formation, using themselves as walls.
However, I know that if I continue like this, only certain death awaits.
Gunther decided to fight as best he could before the moment came when he had no other choice.
"I will gather it all and strike it down at once. Gather the threads of divinity and connect them to me."
"But, Captain!"
"If someone has to do it now, it's me."
The knights surrounding him realized what Gunther was trying to do, but his resolve was already firmly established.
If destruction cannot be avoided, the attitude of a commander would be to choose the lesser evil.
"Please, let at least one person survive and tell of this."
If I can't avoid the sacrifice of another, I will do it.
Gunther slowly raised his sword and brought it to his forehead with the stigmas.
The Paladins lowered their heads as they saw him trying to become a symbol by turning himself into the symbol of the church.
"Yes... it seems there's no other choice."
And there, looking into the distance at the knight, was a woman.
Observing the knight's stance, she began to gather the headless soldiers, as if anticipating something, to form a formation.
"But no matter how much I approached him, he did not respond to me."
She knew very well that humans, with all paths blocked, ultimately have no choice but to pray for God's grace.
But I know because I've walked it.
The fact that God's will is too far to approach and does not respond as easily as desired.
She was someone who knew that fact better than anyone in the world.
-San Rogino, commander of the celestial army.
According to Gunther's prayer, the Paladins' swords pointed at each other.
-I trust that you will guide the way to His glory.
And the divinity of each person was transmitted through the sword.
Their divinity, which contained the world of God and not their own, flowed through the sword without difficulty and began to form a bright light at the tip of Gunther's sword.
-I dedicate it. Through me. Infinite glory.
The first step towards God through sacrifice. Ain soph.
The divinity created by the Paladins became a shining ladder and sent Gunther along with the commander of the celestial army.
-Now…!
Gunther tried to escape the bonds of his body and ascend to a higher world.
He was planning to burn the evil beings with the light that would remain on the ground for a very short time.
-Huh?
For a moment, a twinkling star appeared in his eyes.
Although it trembled precariously in the dark night sky, it was clearly a star that shone intensely.
"I can't hold on any longer! Three are too heavy!"
"But what should I do if I go?"
There were three men swaying on the carpet.
Pedro, who was completely white, and Nibelun, who struggled to move while clinging to the edge of the carpet.
Unlike the carpet used in the prison, this one was much larger and more colorful and gradually approached the tree floating in the air.
Flying directly into the sky.
"...If it's here, even if I fall, I can still reach it."
Seeing the tree twisting beneath his feet, Vlad silently began to breathe deeply as if he had made a decision.
A golden light began to flow from Vlad's left eye as he looked at the tree in the sky.
"Let's go!"
"Damn it!"
A small prayer began to flow from Pedro, who tightly closed his eyes to avoid looking down.
From Pedro to Nibelun and back to Vlad.
The three worlds, which seemed never to overlap, slowly began to support each other once again.
[What is the trick for a single strike?]
"From the unexpected."
[What about suppressing the baseline?]
Vlad responded in a low voice to the question of the voice.
The more he remembered his teachings, the deeper the golden light in Vlad's eye became.
"Magnificently."
[Good.]
Vlad, who had assumed the light of divinity and mystery, stepped off the carpet.
A starlight that has nowhere to go and begins to fall.
It didn't start from a high place, but it was clearly a beam of light piercing the dark night sky.
"No!"
A precious golden color that would catch anyone's eye.
The woman watching from below shouted in confusion, but Nibelun's mystery had already deceived her eyes and sent a single starlight underground.
"Hmm!"
I fell because I had no wings, but I was the only one who picked up the tip of my falling sword.
It started as a small flash, but when it met, it became a large cluster of lights.
The meeting of worlds was sometimes the beginning of a great struggle.
"Why! Kids! Why!"
The triangular pyramid of Vlad, sharpened by anger, fell toward the tree waving its tentacles.
A triangular pyramid on which the world of divinity, mystery, and swords rested.
And at the bottom of the horn lay a white world that was more legitimate than any other world.
"Did you kill him? You son of a bitch!"
Because it is sharp, it cannot be stopped and because it is just, it cannot be rejected.
Ahhh!
Claang!
From where the knight's sword fell, an enormous wave of mist began to swirl.
The wave was so great that the bell of the adjoining bell tower trembled as if it were going to break.
For those who have will, there is a way.
By finding a way to do it instead of a reason why it couldn't be done, the tip of Vlad's sword pierced through the woman's mist and sank into the Qulipoth tree.
***
-Let's spin, let's spin.
-Let's go get the matches.
-Huh? What's that?
Vlad, who was slowly falling, saw dark children circling around a tree below.
The children, who kept circling the tree, began to tilt their heads as they watched Vlad descend through the dense darkness.
"Are you in a dream again?"
[No, this is the world of the tree.]
This time, it wasn't in Jean's dream but in the world of the trees.
Kihano was informing Vlad that he had fully arrived at the source of the curse.
"What do we do now?"
[You have to cut it. That thing.]
There were children going around in circles down there with no way out.
The children raised their palms as if they were dazzled upon seeing Vlad fall.
However, their gaze was directed solely at the radiant Vlad.
"What happens if I cut the tree? What about the children?"
[…They will be cut as well.]
There was a reason why Vlad asked Kihano about the children.
Tree branches intertwined around the children's ankles.
It was unfortunate, but the children's souls were already tightly entangled in the tree's branches.
It was such a strong curse that escape was impossible.
[If you don't cut it here, the curse will keep spreading. You wouldn't want the whole North to end up like this, right?]
"…"
The tip of Vlad's sword trembled slightly when Kihano said that even the children would have to be killed together.
"Is there any other way?"
[…Hah.]
Kihano's sigh was deep, but Vlad's hesitation wasn't due to a simple sense of justice.
"I didn't come this far for this."
[…Yes. You're right.]
Vlad is someone invited to a dream that only children can dream.
Vlad, who might still be a child because he dreams of becoming something, wanted to depict another possibility instead of the harsh reality.
[Then this is the last lesson.]
If that's the case, you should be made aware.
He said he would walk the difficult path without giving up.
[My existence is a world. It is a precious possibility that no one can replace.]
The world starts with me.
Starting by knowing who I am.
[The sword is a pen. The colorful hues painted with a swing become a tool to express who you are.]
The starting line of the world begins with the sword.
The beginning of a knight is to inform the world that I am here through the sword.
"Keuuuu!"
After dodging the twisting tentacles, Vlad slowly raised his sword and began to stab toward the tree in the sky.
The cry of the severed tree began to resound loudly from the tip of the sword that touched it.
[And if you've been painting your colors until now, now is the time to complete it.]
If you've created a drawing paper with dots and lines, now is the time to paint it with your own colors.
If I could bring to light the world I've drawn this way, the world that was mine could become a world that everyone recognizes.
[A person who can complete their own world at the top of the world. That person is called a Master of the Sword.]
"...!"
The words I heard were teachings, but what I felt was guidance.
Vlad followed Kihano's words and began to turn the hilt of the sword embedded in the tree with all his strength.
To straighten a world that has been turned upside down.
"Kwaaah!"
Geaaaa-!
I feel sorry for the children who are burning in this very, very dark world.
Even if I can't bring them back, sending these children in the right direction is the world I envision.
Kwaang-!
Depending on the direction Vlad turned, deeply embedded branches began to rise.
The roots that had risen to the sky began to sink.
"Huaaaa!"
There was a gesture from Vlad trying to change the world through the strike of his sword.
It was the struggle of a knight to restore the original color by scraping off the black world that the woman had painted.
***
Collapsing!
Little by little, the darkness began to clear over the black sky of Moshiam.
And what arrived above were the rain clouds that were supposed to be there.
"What the hell is this..."
Gunther was surrounded by divine light, but he was not the one shining the brightest here.
"No!"
The fog was being swept away by the heavy rain.
And a tree slowly moving under the falling rain.
"Give me back my children!"
"Now! Everyone charge!"
The woman hurriedly pointed at the beast, but now the Holy Knights, who had finally seized the opportunity, were stepping in.
Gunther's entire body glowed with divinity, as if he had never been closer to heaven than today.
The roots go to the ground and the branches to the sky.
To where everyone belongs.
The sound of children's laughter began to be heard, heading towards the sky along the tree that was slowly leaning.
"...Keep going. Vlad."
Vlad's world was being painted over the black canvas drawn by the woman.
Realization of status.
A tree that Vlad had drawn began to slowly fall to the ground in Moshiam.
Because it was of a brighter golden color than anyone else's, it was an image even a white-haired man from afar could recognize.
[…Now then.]
And the biggest imprint left on that drawing.
[All the children are asleep, so let's talk like adults from now on.]
The sword he held was the Sword of the World Tree, but what was unsheathed was a silver sword.
After falling asleep from exhaustion, someone rose in Vlad's place and smiled.
Before he realized it, a white lightning bolt fell on the sky that had been drawn in Vlad's name.
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